Robin Miedzybrodzki, Shauna Mullin and I (Barry McGuigan) are three Scottish volleyball players that are relatively new to the beach volleyball scene but what they all have is a lot of enthusiasm and some major goals they have targeted to hit over the next few years. I was asked to write a report on our recent beach volleyball trip to Alicante.
In the days leading up to our departure we began to put our heads together deciding what particular aspects of the beach game we wanted to focus on and how we should manage our time over there so we got the most out of our stay. We were able to pick Shauna's brain for all the information that had been passed to her and the drills she had been involved at beach camps in Heyford. Robin and I have a little more experience as coaches of the indoor game, so between the three of us and with some helpful information from Denise Austin (British beach volleyball player and coach) we put together quite a good programme. Denise was a great help as she supplied the three of us with coaching notes and provided contact details for the Spanish Beach Volleyball coaching staff that turned out to be very welcoming when we met up. We then asked Colin Patterson (Scottish Beach Volleyball Committee) for help and he allowed us to borrow his beach court to take away with us. Suddenly things were starting to look up!
We arrived on Sunday 19th, early afternoon, which posed a little bit of an issue being right in the middle of the local siesta. But, we managed to settle in soon enough to an apartment, which was more than adequate, just a couple of minutes walk from the beach. Just what we needed! Not to mention the fact that the sun was shining even though it was a little breezy. It turned out we didn't need the court we brought with us because there are around seven decent courts up all year round. Even better! We trained for around 3 hours that day, first of all on some physical work and then we began to brush off some off the cobwebs of detrimental indoor habits. We worked on court movements and ball handling skills that are specific to beach volleyball which rapidly exposed our reliance on indoor techniques and timing. So it was clear that these court movement and ball handling skills would have to be worked on repetitively throughout the camp.
Every night we talked over what we were going to do the next day and if we needed to be working on anything different. Just talking about the game and quizzing each others ideas and plays during the sessions increased our player development as each day passed.
On day two and three we trained six times overall. The first of these sessions each morning was a very physical one and the focus was about our speed on the sand. I can't remember how many times someone said they might be sick! But no one gave up and we battled on. We worked on as many aspects of the game as we possibly could without bombarding the structure of the sessions and overloading our own systems. I feel we almost achieved that. I say almost because we were working with limited knowledge of the game but we did work well within our own parameters.
A very significant part of the trip occurred at the end of the Monday night session and that's when Luis Campisi and is beach players turned up to train. It was significant because three things happened. We made some new friends, we got to play a match against some quality opposition and we got to see some full time athletes training. Now it may have been because we were absolutely shattered after training three times already that day, but as the saying goes “we got schooled”. I have never competed against anyone on the sand who possessed that much precision and control in the game and the points soon all piled up against us. That match changed our outlook on what we needed to be working on as individuals and as beach partners. So the technical sessions we had left on the Tuesday and Wednesday were altered significantly. Prior to our rendezvous with the Spanish beach players there were many discussions on what sort of physical and technical work the full time players were doing and what will be required of ourselves if we are to reach our own targets over the coming seasons.
We had another extended session on the Wednesday morning and from that point on it was none stop. We quickly packed everything up, cleaned the room and caught our flight back to Glasgow before making a speedy return to Edinburgh so Robin and I could play for our indoor club on the Wednesday night. It was tiring to say the least but with out doubt worthwhile.
I am pleased we all went to the effort to make this trip what it was and the fact that we stuck to the schedule and made everything as professional as we possibly could make it. The whole experience was a great success and one that we will certainly embark upon again in the near future. It was in some ways our first big step on the sand but we are all greatly anticipating the giant leaps that lie before us!
Barry McGuigan 5.03.06
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